Carnival in Rio
by denise3
Summary: The Doctor has had many Christmas adventures, often in London, and many of them terrifying. What about a light adventure during Carnival in Rio? So, on a sunny Carnival Tuesday, in Copacabana...
1. Encounter

Synopsis: The Doctor has had many Christmas adventures, often in London, and many of them terrifying. What about a light adventure during Carnival in Rio? So, on a sunny Carnival Tuesday, in Copacabana...

A/N: This story is set in my Reality Clashes continuity, and it is (mostly) compatible with canon, as much as there's one in Doctor Who. This is the Doctor between the 4th and 5th seasons of the series, somewhen around the 2009 specials. I've tried to avoid spoilers for other stories in the same continuity so some things may go unexplained here.

Disclaimer: Of course, the Doctor is not mine. As much as a Time Lord may belong to someone, he's BBC's. I've only taken him out for a ride. He and his TARDIS, of course. Now Philip, and the other protagonists in this little story, are my own.

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - Encounter**

A/N: This is a light adventure which I've written as a gift for another one of the Doctor's fans. Philip is the Doctor's companion in this story, and his story will be told elsewhere. Anyway, this is not his story...

* * *

Paula woke up suddenly, faint images from a dream floating just beyond her grasp. But she had the odd feeling she had to hurry. For what? She checked her mobile. It was still far too early. After all, it was Tuesday, during the Carnival holiday. Her mother was traveling, but she and her father had stayed in Rio.

She went to the window and watched the people in the street. Two of them passed just below her window, laughing and talking happily. She noticed that one of them had a colourful scarf wrapped around the neck. Yes, that was it! The block of the Doctor would meet that day. She had followed the discussion on Facebook: the fans of the Doctor were going to meet near the Fort of Copacabana and parade down the promenade, showing off their love for their favourite science fiction series, Doctor Who. She called her father: he didn't enjoy rising early, but they couldn't miss it.

* * *

Father and daughter walked down the seafront, towards the western end of Copacabana beach. It was still early, but the block would soon leave the Fort and begin its procession down the Atlantica Avenue. The regular Carnival blocks would normally start appearing just after lunch, so the organizers had scheduled the parade so they'd have the avenue for themselves until they arrived in Leme, on the other end of the beach. Mario hoped to meet the organizers before the block left, so they were walking quickly. In the sand, a few families enjoyed the morning sun. Cars were forbidden in the avenue during holidays, so the wide avenue was filled with people strolling and enjoying life. Some were cosplaying like them, either hurrying towards the meeting point or just waiting for the block to reach them later. Paula called his father's attention to a very good Cyberman costume, homemade out of aluminium paper and cardboard. Mario yawned, he'd usually stay in bed until later and he was sleepy. However this was a unique opportunity and he was nearly as enthusiastic as his daughter.

"I wonder, how can these people stand the heat, nearly forty degrees, with those heavy, hot costumes?"

"The fez suits you, Dad! And the bow tie."

"You didn't want to use it! Someone had to dress up appropriately, after all. Look those two sitting there. The one in overcoat really looks like the Tenth Doctor. He must be melting under all those clothes."

Indeed, sitting in the chairs of one of the seafront stalls, there were two guys, one wearing a brown overcoat over a brown pinstripe suit and beige converse shoes. He had his hair gelled, sticking up, in the same style used by the Tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant in the TV series. The other was wearing clothes more suited to the summer in Rio: dark green shorts, red sleeveless shirt with some strange picture on the front, likely of some rock band. He was tanned enough to pass as a resident, but the Doctor cosplayer was tall, thin and all too white. He even looked like the actor.

"Oh, Dad, look, he's the Doctor! Let's go talk to him!"

"Paula, if we stop here we'll miss the start of the parade. We're already late for the concentration. We need to keep walking."

"No, what if this is really the Doctor? We can't lose this chance of talking to him."

Mario stared at her, trying to see if she was serious.

"Come on, Dad, they're leaving. We must go meet them!"

"Look, dear, they must be waiting for the parade. They'll probably still be here when it arrives at this point."

Paula hesitated. She didn't know how, but she was certain that was the Doctor there. But, really, that didn't make sense. After all, the Doctor is just a TV character, though a very cool one. Well, he could be David Tennant, she thought, and in that case she wanted his autograph. And a photo. Better yet, an autographed photo. She could go there by herself, but she was shy. Besides, they were strangers. She felt a shiver down her back as she saw them ambling in the opposite direction. It was now or never. If she didn't go, she'd never know who they were. Why didn't her father want to go with her?

Making up her mind, she suddenly dropped his father's hand and ran in their direction, as the two guys picked up their pace. Mario called for her to stop. But she knew he'd come after her, so she wasn't afraid. He'd be angry, but she didn't want to miss this opportunity. She noticed that the shorter guy briefly looked back, as if he wanted to see if they were being followed. She waved and ran even faster until she reached them.

She began walking beside them, slightly out of breath, and trying to attract their attention. But they didn't look at her and walked quickly, so she had to hurry to keep up. She guessed they were avoiding her on purpose. She felt her courage flag. After all that effort, should she let them just leave? But the short guy must have felt pity, because he slowed down and looked at her.

"Hi kid, what's your name?"

"I'm Paula. Are you the Doctor's companion?"

He burst out laughing. At this point the other guy slowed down as well and, frowning, he walked back to them.

"Philip, what are you doing?"

"Paula here is special, Doctor!"

This was when Mario finally reached them, puffing.

"Sorry for the bother, she really wanted to speak to you. Your costume is very good indeed!"

The Doctor guy seemed bemused, looking between father and daughter, while Philip observed, smirking. Then the Doctor took a leather wallet from his pocket and showed it to Mario.

"Don't worry, she's not bothering us. I came to see the Carnival in Rio, I've heard it's very good."

Mario looked surprised at the wallet.

"David Tennant? Oh, that's cool! But you look a bit different on TV..."

"Let me see, let me see!" Paula jumped and tried to look at the wallet.

David offered her the wallet, but she grabbed his hand and exclaimed, "I knew it! It's psychic paper! You're not David Tennant, you're the Doctor!"

"Doctor? Doctor who?" the guy asked, smiling.

Mario was certain he must be David Tennant, after all the Doctor is just a science fiction character. The wallet looked convincingly like what he imagined a British identity document would look like. Thinking better, though, he remembered he had no idea if the UK had national identity documents...

"The Tenth Doctor! I know! Your hand is cool, even in all this heat. You can only be a Time Lord!" exclaimed the girl.

"Paula!" Mario scolded her, while David looked at her strangely.

Before people began to stop and ask the reason for the commotion, Philip dragged the other three across the avenue and into the nearest restaurant, of the many lining Atlantica Avenue.

* * *

A/N: Okay, this is not your usual Doctor Who universe. How did the Doctor end up here? Just go with it, for the moment.

Next chapter: Pizza and chips


	2. Pizza and Chips

**Chapter 2: Pizza and Chips**

The Doctor was enjoying a banana and cinnamon pizza, while Philip and Mario shared a large serving of chips with cheese and bacon and Paula wolfed down her own plate of chips. The waiter brought a caipirinha drink for the Doctor, water for Paula and cold beers for the others, and left. They were sitting around a table set in the famous beachfront sidewalk of Copacabana, under giant umbrellas that protected them from the sun, and enjoying the soft cool breeze coming from the sea. They could finally talk in peace, without curious eavesdroppers nearby.

"Mario, Paula is brilliant!" said the Doctor, looking at the girl. "I saw it when she decided to come after us, even when you'd rather continue walking ahead."

"If you saw me coming," she complained, "why did you try to run?"

"I wasn't running, I was, well, you know..." The Doctor rubbed his neck.

"Paulo, they're probably doing something very important and very dangerous, and they didn't want you getting involved," said Mario, still assuming it was a joke and trying to play along.

"Uhm, in fact, we really are..."

"Dad, it's the Doctor. Really!"

Mario was getting angry with his daughter's insistence when the Doctor finally admitted. "Your daughter is right, it's me, I'm the Doctor. By the way, how did you know who I am?"

Father and daughter looked at each other, embarrassed.

"Doctor, there's a science fiction TV series on the BBC, called Doctor Who, whose main character looks just like you," Philip stepped in. Turning to Mario, he continued, "You watch it, am I right?"

"Yes, exactly," confirmed Mario, still uncertain about what was happening.

"And how do you know about it, Philip?"

"Doctor, while you tried to adjust the sensors and worked to complete that thingamajig, I did what I always do and researched the general situation. Among other things, I've programmed an automated search for any mention of the TARDIS, and I was surprised with what I found on the internet-"

"Thousands of pages about the Doctor! I'm your fan!" Paula said, looking raptly at the Doctor.

"How so? I thought Mickey had used my virus to erase everything about me and the TARDIS..."

"Mickey?" asked Philip.

"Virus?" asked Mario.

"Parallel universe!" exclaimed Paula, figuring it out.

"It makes sense," completed the Doctor.

"What?" interrupted Mario, already frightened with the possibility that it was all true. "No way. Enough joking. I won't fall for that. You mean you came here from another universe? But, if you're the Doctor, what are you doing here? The world is not about to end. This isn't London, and it's not Christmas!"

"What does Christmas have to do with anything?"

"Doctor," said Philip, "it seems the TV series has special Christmas episodes in which you normally appear saving the Earth, or even the whole universe, from some catastrophe."

"Well, yes, it happened a few times, but... Philip, if you knew it, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"You were so worried about finding the Helemer that I didn't want to distract you," he smirked.

"Of course," the Doctor stared at Philip, crossing his arms. "I deal with the problem while you watch everything else. That's it, right?"

"But, Doctor," complained Philip, stiffening, "you normally don't even want to know where we've landed before opening the door. If I try to say something you just ignore me."

Grumbling, the Doctor finished his slice of pizza and got some more.

"Wait, if you really come from another universe, you must prove it!" Mario said, going back to what was worrying him.

"Why?" the Doctor smirked. "Believe it or not!"

Philip sighed. "We'll probably need their help..."

"Oh no we won't!" the Doctor interjected, waving his arm. "We can find the Helemer, just the two of us. There's no need to involve them," he said, rolling his eyes.

"But the anomaly..." tried Philip.

"We still have plenty of time! The anomaly is mostly stable," said the Doctor, while Philip stared at him, sceptically. "Well, not exactly unstable... yet..."

"How long?" Philip went straight to the point in question.

"We still have a few days. Well, at least two days, well, certainly more than one, perhaps..." The Doctor didn't seem very certain about his estimates.

"Doctor."

"Besides, she's still only a child!" exclaimed the Doctor, finally voicing the reason for his reticence.

"I'm already twelve years old!" Paula butted in, angrily.

"What about it? I'm around two hundred times older than you."

Paula stopped to make the calculations in her head, and exclaimed, "How did you get that? You should be just over nine hundred years old!"

"Who said that?"

"The TV series," reminded Philip, sighing again.

"And you'd rather believe the TV instead of me?" the Doctor exclaimed, indignant.

"Uh, sorry," said Paula, ashamed.

"No, I'm sorry," sighed the Doctor. "You are right. I've been telling people I'm nine hundred years old for some time already. It sounds better than admitting I'm over two thousand years old."

"Earth years or Gallifreyan?" asked Paula, curious.

"Hey, you're very smart! Wait! Philip, how close is this TV series with respect to my life?" asked the Doctor, worriedly.

"Well, you don't talk much about yourself or your past, and I didn't have time to look at everything. I've just looked at some summaries, but from what I could see the series is essentially correct, except perhaps for some details. There are even a few things I'd like to ask you..."

The Doctor was frightened, because talking about his past was the last thing he wanted, but before he tried to change the subject, Mario decided to step into the conversation. He had been growing increasingly worried as he listened to them talking, and he decided to clear things up. "Let me see your wallet again."

"Why? Ah..." The Doctor grinned cheekily, picking up his wallet and passing it to the girl's father. Mario turned the wallet in all directions, trying to detect the trick behind it, but the wallet continued to show what he had seen initially, an ID card identifying him as David Tennant.

"It's useless, Dad. You're very intelligent, but you have to be a genius to not be fooled by the psychic paper," Paula explained, full of herself. The Doctor looked at her suspiciously.

"Then what was that you saw, Paula?" asked Mario.

"I don't know, I didn't pay attention, but his hand is cold, and I know he's not David Tennant."

Unsatisfied, Mario dropped the wallet and grabbed at the Doctor's wrist, trying to feel his heartbeat. With his other hand, the Doctor held Mario's hand and looked hard at him. Mario was scared, but he wasn't about to let him see it, and returned his look. Slowly, the Doctor raised the human's hand to his neck, so he could feel his pulse point. Mario's eyes went wide with surprise, while the Doctor smiled again and released his hand. He picked the wallet again and gave it back to Mario. "Look again."

Mario stared, fascinated, as the psychic paper went from completely blank to a new card, identifying him as the Doctor, "Lord of Time, time and space traveller, specialist in impossible situations, special consultant to the Queen of England and children's friend." He couldn't believe in his eyes. He felt as if he'd crossed through the mirror, and the reality he was used to was suddenly a lot less solid and reliable than when he woke up that morning.

"Dad, are you all right? Is he going to be all right, Doctor?" asked Paula, seeing her father turn white as paper. Mario leaned back in his chair, wheezing as if he couldn't breathe.

"It's the shock, he'll get better, don't you worry," said the Doctor, after feeling Mario's forehead with his long fingers.

At this moment a number of people passed right in front of the restaurant, running and screaming hysterically. The two travellers began hearing a strange drumming sound.

"It's the group 'Doctor in Rio'! They're coming, finally!" Paula was nearly jumping with excitement.

"What? How?"

"It's a street carnival block formed by all your fans, Doctor! They will LOVE to meet you!" she explained.

The Doctor froze, his face blanched, scared...

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much to Basmathgirl for helping me with this story. Any and all errors that still remain are mine only! I'm possessive that way.

Next chapter: The Doctor group arrives


	3. The Doctor Who parade arrives

**Chapter III - The Doctor Who parade arrives**

A/N: Sorry for the delay, but things happened and I had to stop writing for nearly two months. I'm back now, and I plan to resume posting chapters for this and TEatD every other week.

* * *

 _Previously:_

"It's a street carnival block formed by all your fans, Doctor! They will LOVE to meet you!" she explained.

The Doctor froze, his face blanched, scared...

* * *

"No way, you can't!" The Doctor turned to face Paula, looking serious. "You can't tell anyone. It's really important that no one knows I'm here."

"Why not? Oh, I think I get it. It's a secret, right?"

"If they even suspect he might be the true Doctor," explained Philip, "they won't leave us alone, and we won't be able to find the Helemer. Besides, if there's anything that scares the mighty Lord of Time it's a crowd of fans," he added, looking sideways at the closed face of the alien sitting at their table.

"Helemer?" asked Mario, having finally recovered his breath. "Is that who you're looking for? What do they want? To conquer the Earth? Are we being invaded by aliens?"

"No, I believe there's just one or two of them," explained the Doctor. "We've received the distress signal. Their ship has apparently broken down, so they came on a shuttle and landed nearby. We're looking for them, we can help fix their ship."

"And what are they doing here in Copacabana?" asked Mario.

"Why not here? Does it make any difference where they landed?"

"Well, Doctor," guessed Paula, "I believe extraterrestrial beings would normally land in London, or nearby."

"Your 'Doctor Who' series is produced by the BBC, right?" Philip mused. "That'd be enough to explain why most episodes would happen there. It'd be easier, cheaper and more familiar to the audience."

"Yes, that's right," said Mario.

"However, since I began travelling with the Doctor we've been mostly to London, Cardiff and other places around Great Britain. We've also gone to the United States, Brazil and a few other places, but he, or the TARDIS, seem to really like it there."

"Anyway!" the Doctor cut in, "The Helemer landed around here, I've followed their shuttle's signal, and they're close. But we need to find the pilot."

"What do they look like, Doctor?" asked Mario, deciding it was better to just go with it for the moment and leave the freaking out part for later.

"Well, they're bipeds, very large, covered in dark brown, grey or violet fur, and... I believe they'd look very monstrous for you."

"Like Chewbacca?" asked Paula, eyes shining.

"Chewbacca who?" asked Philip.

"I believe she's referring to the 'Star Wars' films, right, little lady?" She smiled and nodded to the Doctor in response. "Philip, don't forget to download the films to our library, I'd like to check if they're the same here. But, answering your question, the Helemer are much more frightening than Wookiees."

"If that's so, unless they're hiding, I very much doubt they could be around," surmised Mario.

"Dad, you're forgetting they could be using perception filters," said Paula. "Like those cacti people from that episode."

"Cacti people? The Vinvocci, you say? What happened? Philip?" asked the Doctor, looking at the girl. Philip shrugged, while Mario winced.

"Paula, shush! Spoilers!" he warned, and Paula flushed, embarrassed. "We don't know where he is on his timeline. Sorry, Doctor." The Doctor frowned, staring at them. "However, she's right. If the perception filters exist, they could be here and no one would be the wiser."

"They exist," said the Doctor, "and the Helemer have access to them, but they have limits. They can't disguise their size, for example. But no one would see anything strange or look at them twice. No one except me, of course," he added, raising his chin.

"It's Carnival here, though," butted in Philip. "Even without perception filters, they might pass as humans dressed with very good costumes."

"Are they dangerous?" asked Mario, suddenly worried. He had to raise his voice, because the noise of the approaching street party was making it harder to keep up the conversation.

"Don't worry, they wouldn't hurt anyone! Well, unless they felt threatened, then they could be very deadly," said the Doctor, thumbing his ear.

"How are we going to find them?" asked Mario, always practical.

"I'll know if I see them," said the Doctor, "But we need to get close. It's getting too crowded around here. I've followed their trail up to this part of the beachfront, they must be around." He took out a strange contraption which looked way too big to fit in his pocket. Mario goggled at the thingamajig, which looked as a cross between an electrical drill and an egg beater upside down. Those bigger-on-the-inside pockets had always seemed a very convenient invention from the writers of the TV series and he was amazed that they seemed to be real after all.

"Does this thing tell us where they are?" he asked, doubtful.

"Yep!" replied the Doctor. Then he frowned. "Well, more or less. It tells the approximate distance and, sometimes, if we're lucky, the direction as well."

"It doesn't sound very impressive," Mario commented.

"Oi!" the Doctor protested, offended. "You should try assembling a pheromone tracer using only spare parts and broken kitchen appliances, under half an hour! Not to mention everything depends on the wind."

"That thing is around a thousand times more sensitive than the sense of smell of a hunting dog," Philip intervened. "It's the second time he assembles something like that. That's the best way to find a Helemer, according to him. It's rather unfortunate that we didn't keep the first one."

"I needed the parts!" complained the Doctor. "How was I supposed to know we'd have to find another Helemer, and on Earth, of all places?"

At this moment the carnival parade arrived in front of their restaurant, and the Doctor, suddenly remembering he didn't want to be recognized, tried to hide behind a copy of the restaurant's menu.

"Doctor," Paula said sympathetically, "we're far enough from the street. I don't think they'll bother to look at you here."

"Why don't you put up a perception filter as well, Doctor?" asked Mario.

"Eh, well," the Doctor flushed with embarrassment. He hadn't thought about it. "The filter only serves to hide what you don't expect to see, but if I understood correctly my character in this TV series looks very similar to me, which is very surprising..." He gazed in the distance, distracted for a moment, until the booming of the drums startled him again. "Well, with this racket hopefully they won't notice me here. At least there's that," he said, picking up a little gadget from his pocket and the sonic screwdriver with his other hand.

He was about to use the sonic on the gadget when Paula yelled, "The sonic screwdriver! That's so cool! I have one as well!"

"Do you?" asked the Doctor, surprised. "How did you get one?"

"It's just a toy, Doctor," said Mario, taking it from his own pocket and showing it to the Time Lord. "It has a small light and makes a noise." He demonstrated it. The plastic toy showed a slight resemblance to the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, but his was clearly not a toy.

"Oh, right," the Doctor mumbled, distracted, turning back to his gadget and turning on the sonic. Its noise was softer than the toy's, but it sounded differently, and everyone around the table could hear it, even against the samba rhythm of the passing carnival group. "Ready!" he said, pinning the thing to his lapel.

"Is that a perception filter?" asked Paula. "What happened to the TARDIS key?"

The Doctor glanced at her but didn't answer. He turned worriedly towards the parade and stared at it. Many of the revelers were dressed in costumes, and he thought he could recognize some of them. There were some with a distance resemblance to various aliens he had met in his long life. He felt relieved he could barely recognize most of them. That TV series probably wasn't very close to his reality, after all. His companions watched as his face relaxed, losing its frown, and he watched the alien group, grinning amusedly. Then he frowned again as he saw the following group, characterized as the Doctor's various incarnations, as well as some of his most popular companions. Some of the costumes were very good, including those of two revelers with brown curly hair and long coloured scarves, as well as one dressed almost exactly as the Doctor sitting with them on the table, and another with a vegetable affixed to his lapel.

Mario guessed what the Doctor was thinking and commented, "Yes Doctor, they're cosplaying you! Some of your previous incarnations as well."

But they all noticed when other revelers came, wearing red fezzes and bowties, with sonic screwdriver toys buzzing on their hands, and the Doctor began looking between them and Mario, who was using the same accessories. Philip, who had already bumped into the Eleventh Doctor before, without his Doctor knowing, and had recognized Mario's costume, decided to intervene to prevent a disaster. "Doctor, it's-"

"I get it," the Doctor interrupted, "that's supposed to look like next me, according to your TV series, right? But, really, bowties? And fezzes? You can't be serious!"

"Bowties are cool!" said Paula, "And you're funny!"

Philip watched the Doctor worriedly, but the shadow that had crossed his face seemed to have left. The Doctor was grinning, looking happy, and began talking nonstop again, commenting on the costumes. But he knew the Time Lord enough to recognize it was just a mask. The Doctor was very worried about something.


End file.
